The present invention relates to the use of known chemical compounds and physiologically acceptable salts thereof for the therapeutic and prophylactic control and treatment of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), infections by Human Immunodeficiency Virus, hepatitis B virus infections and retrovirus infections for such control and treatment in animals and man.
In the late seventies a new disease was reported, which subsequently was referred to as Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It is now generally accepted that a retrovirus referred to as HIV (Human Immuno Deficiency Virus, formerly known as Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV-III) or Lymphadenopathy Associated Virus (LAV) plays an essential role in the etiology of AIDS.
AIDS is characterized by a profound immunodeficiency due to low numbers of lymphocyte-T-helper cells, which are the targets for HIV (also called HTLV-III/LAV) infection. The profound immunodeficiency in AIDS patients makes these patients highly susceptible to a variety of opportunistic infections of bacterial, fungal, protozoal or viral etiology. The etiological agents among viral opportunistic infections are often found in the herpes virus group, i.e., Herpes simplex virus (HSV), Varicella Zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and, especially, cytomegalovirus (CMV). Other retroviruses affecting humans are HTLV-I and II and examples of retroviruses affecting animals are feline leukemia virus and equine infectios anaemia virus.
Hepatitis B virus infections cause severe disease such as acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, fulminant hepatitis in a considerable number of persons. It is estimated that there are 200 million patients with chronic hepatitis B infection in the world. A considerable number of the chronic cases progress to liver cirrosis and liver tumours. In some cases the hepatitis infections also take a rapid and severe course as in fulminant B hepatitis with about 90% mortality. At present there is no known effective treatment against hepatitis B infections.
The compound 3xe2x80x2-deoxy-3xe2x80x2-fluoro-thymidine is described in Journal f. prakt. Chemie, Vol. 315, 895-900 (1973) as having cytostatic and virustatic activity as selective inhibitor of DNA synthesis. In the same article the synthesis of the compound 2xe2x80x2,3xe2x80x2-dideoxy-3xe2x80x2-fluorocytidine is described.
The compounds 2xe2x80x2,3xe2x80x2-dideoxy-3xe2x80x2-fluoroadenosine and 2xe2x80x2,3xe2x80x2-dideoxy-3xe2x80x2-fluoroguanosine are described in the East-German patents DD 158903 and DD 209197, respectively, as virostatic agents.